21 min
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort - William Bringhurst - Ep. 39 Latter-day Saint Commentary from the Pacific Northwest - Rocky Mountain Sunshine Podcast
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- Christianity
Have you ever discovered some part of your family history that was just fascinating?
Before the lights, the strip, and the casinos in Las Vegas, was the Old Mormon Fort.
Las Vegas in Spanish means “The meadows.” There was a creek that ran through the Las Vegas valley giving a little life to the surroundings harsh desert valley. It was along Old Spanish Trail.
The Paiutes (Pah-utes) indigenous people lived there in small camps and nomadic.
1847 Mormons arrived in Salt Lake. In 1851 they settled San Bernadino. To better help travelers between Salt Lake and California, they wanted to establish a fort in Las Vegas.
In the 1855 General Conference, Brigham Young called 30 men to Las Vegas. Forty wagons with ox teams, fifteen cows, and several riding horses. He called William A. Bringhurst to lead them. Being very faithful, they left almost immediately. It’s a little different than today’s mission calls.
And, yes, I am related to him. William is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Brother. When my ancestor Samual Bringurst and his brother William joined the church, their father was very disappointed and left them each one dollar in his will, only because that was the law. He stated that he hoped that they would return from their evil ways. I could do a whole other episode on The Bringhursts in Philadelphia. I looked on familysearch and saw that my ancestor, Samuel Bringhurst Sr., who is Williams brother, was endowed in Nauvoo in 1846.
William Bringhurst was born in Philadelphia in 1818. He married his wife Ann Dillworth in 1845 and traveled to Utah with the John Taylor company arriving in Salt Lake in 1847. So a few years later he is called on this mission to Las Vegas. It took 30 days to get there by wagon from SLC. They arrived on June 14, 1855. They quickly built a bowery. Why? Well think of Las Vegas in June with no air conditioning! These folks were tough as nails! They had their Sunday service their first Sunday there and then the next day got to work on building the fort.
It took 7 months to build an adobe fort. 150 Feet square. It was the largest building in 100 miles. Tough life. They made adobe bricks that hardened and dried in the sun and they farmed.
These early Latter-day Saints, or as many called them, “Mormons”, built around 35 forts in various settlements. I grew up close to the Union Fort, or what is called now the Fort Union area in Midvale, Utah. President Hinckley’s grandfather built the Cove Fort in Millard County. It has been restored and rebuilt and it is a fun place to visit just outside of Beaver, Utah.
The Las Vegas fort was made mostly from adobe bricks where were made on location there. The foundations were stone. The walls were 14 feet high, 2 feet thick for the first 8 feet, and then a foot thick above that. The east wall was where the mess houses and dwellings were. They were two stories tall. Wood was sparse so the ground floor was dirt and the second story floor was wood planks. Nails were also short supply so they used rawhide or wooden pegs to attach the planks to beams. They were built inside the fort facing the courtyard. There were holes in the walls to shoot attackers.
Tune in for the rest!
#mormon
#lasvegas
#latterdaysaint
#latterdaysaints
#thechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocky-mountain-sunshine/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocky-mountain-sunshine/support
Have you ever discovered some part of your family history that was just fascinating?
Before the lights, the strip, and the casinos in Las Vegas, was the Old Mormon Fort.
Las Vegas in Spanish means “The meadows.” There was a creek that ran through the Las Vegas valley giving a little life to the surroundings harsh desert valley. It was along Old Spanish Trail.
The Paiutes (Pah-utes) indigenous people lived there in small camps and nomadic.
1847 Mormons arrived in Salt Lake. In 1851 they settled San Bernadino. To better help travelers between Salt Lake and California, they wanted to establish a fort in Las Vegas.
In the 1855 General Conference, Brigham Young called 30 men to Las Vegas. Forty wagons with ox teams, fifteen cows, and several riding horses. He called William A. Bringhurst to lead them. Being very faithful, they left almost immediately. It’s a little different than today’s mission calls.
And, yes, I am related to him. William is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Brother. When my ancestor Samual Bringurst and his brother William joined the church, their father was very disappointed and left them each one dollar in his will, only because that was the law. He stated that he hoped that they would return from their evil ways. I could do a whole other episode on The Bringhursts in Philadelphia. I looked on familysearch and saw that my ancestor, Samuel Bringhurst Sr., who is Williams brother, was endowed in Nauvoo in 1846.
William Bringhurst was born in Philadelphia in 1818. He married his wife Ann Dillworth in 1845 and traveled to Utah with the John Taylor company arriving in Salt Lake in 1847. So a few years later he is called on this mission to Las Vegas. It took 30 days to get there by wagon from SLC. They arrived on June 14, 1855. They quickly built a bowery. Why? Well think of Las Vegas in June with no air conditioning! These folks were tough as nails! They had their Sunday service their first Sunday there and then the next day got to work on building the fort.
It took 7 months to build an adobe fort. 150 Feet square. It was the largest building in 100 miles. Tough life. They made adobe bricks that hardened and dried in the sun and they farmed.
These early Latter-day Saints, or as many called them, “Mormons”, built around 35 forts in various settlements. I grew up close to the Union Fort, or what is called now the Fort Union area in Midvale, Utah. President Hinckley’s grandfather built the Cove Fort in Millard County. It has been restored and rebuilt and it is a fun place to visit just outside of Beaver, Utah.
The Las Vegas fort was made mostly from adobe bricks where were made on location there. The foundations were stone. The walls were 14 feet high, 2 feet thick for the first 8 feet, and then a foot thick above that. The east wall was where the mess houses and dwellings were. They were two stories tall. Wood was sparse so the ground floor was dirt and the second story floor was wood planks. Nails were also short supply so they used rawhide or wooden pegs to attach the planks to beams. They were built inside the fort facing the courtyard. There were holes in the walls to shoot attackers.
Tune in for the rest!
#mormon
#lasvegas
#latterdaysaint
#latterdaysaints
#thechurchofjesuschristoflatterdaysaints
---
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocky-mountain-sunshine/message
Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/rocky-mountain-sunshine/support
21 min